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Apr 28 2008, 1:23 PM EDT (current) CatGalileo 4 words added
Apr 17 2008, 3:21 PM EDT CatGalileo 9 words added

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This program is made possible by a grant from the AALL/BNA Continuing Education Grants Program.




COORDINATOR INFORMATION

Catherine "Kate" Fitz (SL: 'Cat Galileo')
Sacramento County Public Law Library
813 Sixth Street
Sacramento, CA 95616 916-874-5637 kfitz@saclaw.org

PROGRAM DETAILS
Program Name: Best practices in virtual world law librarianship
Date of program: April-August 2008; webinars on April 16, 2008 and August 27, 2008
Competency addressed: Information Technology
Level: Introductory
Intended audience: All Law Librarians
Program intended to be: National
Format of program: Distance (web)

Computer and Internet Requirements

Participant fee: none

Learning outcomes:
  1. Participants will be able to identify the benefits and challenges of operating a virtual world law library program.
  2. Participants will have tools to plan a program or topical resource suitable for presentation in a virtual world such as Second Life.
  3. Participants may opt to create and present a program or topical resource within Second Life.

Description of program and outline of the topic(s) that the speaker will speak on: The virtual world “Second Life” and competitors promise innovative forms of library services. A legal community is developing in Second Life: over 65 lawyers and firms have an official Second Life presence, the “Second Life Bar Association” has 200+ members, and the ABA has recently formed a Virtual Worlds and Multiuser Online Games committee. Harvard Law School, among others, holds classes in and about Second Life (http://tinyurl.com/yowehy).

This application proposes a three-part educational program:

  1. An initial 45-minute webinar introducing participants to the opportunities and challenges of building a Second Life presence for their libraries. Speakers will include coordinator Kate Fitz; an Alliance Library System’s Second Life librarian; and an officer of the Second Life Bar Association. [The recorded webinar is now available at: https://aall.webex.com/aall/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=EC&rID=955717&rKey=2F0CBE09CB6135B7.]
  2. A self-paced workshop inside Second Life, available over a four-month period, and open to any interested AALL member, library student, or law student. (Workshop participants must have a computer and Internet connection meeting minimum specifications, available at http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php, and must register for a free account with Second Life.) Participants will receive Second Life orientation and an introduction to the creation of resources and exhibits. Participants will then develop at least one resource, exhibit, or program for display or presentation in the Second Life Law Library. Participants should expect to spend a minimum of 5 hours working inside Second Life and may choose to spend more. The workshop will provide resources and space for participants to create and display their projects, including some programming and building services for particularly complex or original projects. An accompanying website will document the workshop.
  3. A final 45-minute webinar will report on participants’ projects, usage statistics, and lessons learned, and present conclusions about the usefulness of Second Life to law librarians. Speakers will include Kate Fitz and other interested workshop participants.

Both webinars will be recorded for future use. The webinar portions of the program can be recorded for future downloading over the Internet. Accompanying materials, including material distributed during the hands-on workshop, can be distributed via the Internet as well.

About the coordinator
Coordinator Kate Fitz runs a law library within Second Life (see www.lawspotonline.com) and recently presented “Bringing the Law (Library) to the Virtual Frontier” at Internet Librarian 2007 in Monterey, California (www.lawspotonline.com/lawspot/IL2007.ppt). She will be speaking on Second Life at the 2008 AALL Annual Meeting.

Kate was interviewed for a recent AALL Spectrum article, “A Law Librarian’s Second Life,” by Meg Kribble (http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub_sp0711/pub_sp0711_Second.pdf). Meg will also be a speaker on the 2008 panel.

Kate was also interviewed for a recent California Lawyer article, "Real Law in the Virtual World," by Chuleenan Svetvilas (http://californialawyermagazine.com/story.cfm?eid=890855&evid=1).



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